Michiyo Yagi At Jazztopad Festival New York

Michiyo Yagi
Jazztopad Festival New York
Various Venues
New York, NY
June 15-16, 2025

The opportunity to attend two performances at this year's Jazztopad Festival New York was a fortunate experience. Both events featured the brilliant Michyo Yagi on koto as a special guest, visiting from Tokyo, Japan.

The Jazztopad Festival has been held in NYC for the past nine years (and for over 20 years in Poland), showcasing many of the most culturally significant members of the contemporary jazz scene in Poland. The author' awareness of the festival began in 2022 after attending the premiere of a work for string quartet and tenor saxophone, composed by James Brandon Lewis and performed by Lewis with the Lutoslawski Quartet at Dizzy's, which was part of that year's lineup.

Barbès, considered the best small venue for live music in Brooklyn, provided the perfect setting for the first show, which featured Yagi alongside veteran NYC improvisers Ned Rothenberg and Satoshi Takeishi. This trio had last performed at Barbès in 2004, a fact that likely added extra motivation for attendance.

The room was packed with people who stood or sat transfixed for over an hour, divided across three extended pieces. The timbral qualities and varied impressions conjured by these three musicians were highly enjoyable. Despite the variety, standing in the back and taking it all in felt fluid and well-paced. No note or gesture was left unresolved, and the trio seamlessly explored ever-new contexts.

Each piece offered a different perspective on the same object, with the overall arc of the set feeling circular. The first piece had a spare, somewhat brittle, and curious quality, punctuated by breathy clarinets, rolling toms, and stabbing tone clusters. Yagi's versatility in sound choices was remarkable, especially when listening with eyes closed. The group dynamic suggested at least ten sound sources on stage. As the piece progressed, curiosity and openness gave way to a dense sonic anxiety, akin to a room of old alarm clocks self-destructing—a compliment to its intensity.

The second piece was more suspended in pulse and feeling, almost dreamlike but not in a gentle, pale-colored sense. It felt nocturnal and seedy, like a character crossing the bad end of town late at night. Takeishi's performance stood out with propulsive, driving runs and metallic washes. The slightly shorter final piece served as a bookend to the first, described as a sustained, quiet collapse. Shifting, degraded textures lingered in resigned stillness, providing an effective psychic landing for an enthusiastic and grateful crowd.

The following evening, attendance at a private event hosted by trumpeter Amir ElSaffar in his studio was a fortunate opportunity. The intimate setting and the muted but receptive energy of both audience and artists created a shared experience. Over two hours, various ad hoc ensembles performed extended improvisations for each other. With a crowd full of musicians, a significant portion participated in the show at some point. Performers included ElSaffar on trumpet and qanun, Eylem Basaldi on violin, DoYeon Kim on voice, and Joel Harrison on electric guitar, alongside Yagi and fellow Jazztopad guests from Poland, including the Lutoslawski Quartet, multi-reedist Waclaw Zimpel, and Marcin Steczkowski on various flutes.

With such diverse ingredients, the evening was sonically and emotionally varied. At times, it felt folky and spare, while at others, weblike and angular. The culmination was a quasi-hymnal, emphatic jam involving at least 60% of the room, delivering intense catharsis. The space radiated a deep sense of humanity and supportiveness, evident in both the music and the expressions of those present—an uplifting experience.

Comments